Bihar CM Fellowship Scheme 2026: The Bihar Government has officially kicked off the fourth phase of the Chief Minister’s Fellowship Scheme (CMFS) for 2026, thereby offering an extraordinary opportunity for the very active and talented youngsters to occupy governing and policy-political leadership positions.
The online application will start on January 16 and will be open till January 31, 2026, when it will be closed. The honorable fellowship, operated with IIM Bodh Gaya, the Indian Institute of Management, as a partner, aims to develop talented people and bring fresh ideas through innovative thinking into the public administration across the Indian state.
Bihar CM Fellowship Scheme 2026
The fourth phase of the CMFS, which was announced at a press conference in Patna, is a major landmark in Bihar’s initiatives aimed at reinforcing its administrative machine. The Bihar Administrative Reform Mission Society along with IIM Bodh Gaya organized this phase which will have the selection of 121 fellows who will be stationed in different government offices all over the state.
IIM Bodh Gaya is the academic and strategic partner for the program under a three-year (MoU) signed in November 2025, helping to shape the curriculum, facilitating training, and providing fellows with mentorship and practical insights into public governance.
Hands-On Exposure in Public Administration
This fellowship for two years is a combination of classroom learning, field exposure, and real-world administrative experience. The fellows will initially go through a 40-day residential training program at IIM Bodh Gaya, where they will have interactions with policy-oriented professionals, academics, and high-ranked government officials. After the training, they will be situated in important government units like district collectorates, municipal corporations, and departments within the Secretariat, including the Chief Minister’s Secretariat.
Dr Vinita Sahay, director of IIM Bodh Gaya, said the partnership underscored the institute’s commitment to national development, describing the scheme as a step towards “Viksit Bharat and Viksit Bihar”. The fellowship, she said, would prepare young professionals with the analytical and leadership skills necessary to support the state’s development agenda and strengthen governance outcomes.
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Eligibility and Benefits
The fellowship has been constructed in a way to attract the most talented and qualified applicants. The eligibility conditions specify that the candidates must be Bihar residents, not older than 45, and having an advanced degree in management, public policy, development studies, public administration, or closely related areas.
Moreover, the candidates are supposed to have valid scores from competitive exams like CAT, GMAT, GRE, GATE, UGC-NET, or CSIR-NET. However, the candidates from nationally accredited institutions may not be required to take the entrance tests.
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The monthly stipends for the chosen fellows will be quite attractive and will vary between ₹80,000 and ₹1.5 lakh, depending on their placement and the level of experience they have.
The participants who successfully finish the fellowship will not only get a Postgraduate Certificate in Public Policy and Governance from IIM Bodh Gaya but will also be receiving an experience certificate from the Bihar Government.
Bihar CM Fellowship Scheme 2026: Selection and Training Timeline
The fourth phase proceeds according to a carefully planned selection timeline. Aft er the application period from January 16 to 31, 2026, the candidates who are shortlisted will go through interviews on February 7 and 8, 2026. The final decision will be made in the first week of March 2026. The training will start by the end of that month, and the first deployments to the field will take place in April 2026.
The previous phases of CMFS saw structured selection processes:
- Phase 1: Applications closed December 17, 2025; interviews December 27-28, 2025
- Phase 2: Applications closed December 31, 2025; interviews January 10-11, 2026
- Phase 3: Applications closed January 15, 2026; interviews January 24-25, 2026
- Phase 4: Applications open January 16-31, 2026; interviews February 7-8, 2026
The earlier phases of CMFS already had organized rounds of applications and interviews, which is an indicator of the program’s momentum and the increasing number of young professionals interested in public service.
